Modification of electron structure on the semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes for effectively electrosensing guanine and adenine

The as-prepared SWNTs are always a mixture of metallic (m-) and semiconducting (s-) tubes with quite different electrochemical properties which is a major barrier for their application in many fields. Based on the noncovalent interactions between planar aromatic molecules and SWNTs, the pyrene derivatives 1-docosyloxylmethylpyrene (DomP) was synthesized to separate the m-SWNTs and s-SWNTs via its significant selectivity toward s-SWNTs, i.e. electronic modulation. Before and after doping with electron, the electrochemical properties of s-SWNTs were studied and compared with that of m-SWNTs by electronic absorption spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammogram. As demonstrated, the electrocatalytic activity of electron modulated s-SWNTs was significantly improved and even better than m-SWNTs. Thus a novel sensor was constructed with the electron modulated s-SWNTs modified electrode and successfully applied for simultaneous determination of guanine and adenine. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.